In this column last week, I downplayed (with some justification, I think) the significance of the Cardiff Agreement between the leaders of the nationalist parties of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Scotland, by far the most advanced of the nations in terms of sentiment towards independence, nonetheless has no mechanism for the triggering of an independence referendum. The UK Government, the final boss in this respect, says no. The population is split, so there is no reason to expect Downing Street to feel under overwhelming democratic pressure.

As I surmised last week, the only way for Scotland's nationalists to persuade the UK Government that this is both a constitutional inevitability and a democratic requirement is to push pro-independence sentiment from 50 per cent to 60 or even 70 per cent, similar to the levels of support for devolution in the 1990s.

One might argue they are making a decent fist of that. John Swinney is not Nicola Sturgeon. In any other country, those two individuals would not be in the same political party, and Mr Swinney's economy-friendly social democracy is a world away from where the SNP Government had been for most of the post-referendum decade.

There is nobody more adept at shooting himself in the foot than a British unionist

John Swinney is right that Scotland needs rewiring. Delivery is what matters now

Scotland’s schools have fallen behind England – the SNP can’t keep looking away

GERS figures prove one thing - that Scotland needs full tax powers

Mr Swinney's Programme for Government was a signal that he wants to trim the considerable fat evident across the public sector and public services. His announcement, earlier this week, that even the sacred cow of local........

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